The lace sleeves on my new wedding dress are long and come down into a V. They conceal the pink lines all over my lower arms and hands. The neckline is slightly off the shoulder, but it covers the healing slashes on my chest. The ones on my face, those can’t be hidden. Only camouflaged with cosmetics.
Kieran says that he doesn’t see my scars. I know he does; he gives himself away because he kisses them often.
Jamie says I’m healing well, and with more time he expects minimal scarring for most of the wounds. I hope he’s right. I want as few reminders of the attack as possible. I want to put it behind me and move on with my life. My life with Kieran as my husband.
We were forced to postpone the wedding longer than either of us wanted. Recovery has been harder than expected because so many of my wounds are located in areas where my skin must stretch to accommodate movement. It’s been some agonizing months. Agonizing because of the pain, but also agonizing because I want so desperately to be married to Kieran. Today, we finally become husband and wife.
“The zipper isn’t cooperating. You’re going to have to suck in.”
“Easier said than done.” My belly has had a growth spurt since my final dress fitting. It’s like I went to bed with a flat stomach and woke up with a bump.
“She’s already getting fat.” It’s just like my mother to say something like that.
“She’s not fat. Her body is expanding to accommodate the bairn inside her,” Isobel says.
I might be self-conscious about the way my body is expanding if Kieran didn’t constantly tell me how beautiful I look with his child inside me. I thought he was insatiable before, but he can’t keep his hands off me and my growing belly.
Lorna pulls harder on the zipper and I feel the dress suddenly become tight around my waist. “Got it.”
“Mmm… that is tight. I hope I make it through the ceremony and reception without busting the seams.” The seamstress expanded it as much as she could. There’s not a lot of fabric inside the seams holding this dress together.
Bleu studies my waist. “Are you sure you don’t have twins? That’s exactly what my belly did when I was pregnant with the boys.”
I place my hand over my bump. “Doctor says there’s only one in here.”
“And let’s all pray that it’s a boy.” My mother wants the bragging rights of calling herself the grandmother of the next leader.
I know Kieran would love to have a son. I would too, but now that I’m pregnant, he also says that he’d love to have a little girl with my hair and eyes. “Kieran and I will be happy with whatever we get. We’re far more concerned with our child being born healthy.”
I was barely pregnant when I was attacked. I know that the baby wasn’t injured, but I’ve taken so many drugs the last several months. Jamie says they’re all safe for the baby, but I always have that fear in the back of my mind… that maybe I harmed my own child by taking medicine for pain when I should have suffered through it.
“Kieran may say that he’ll be happy with whatever you get, but he wants a boy. Trust me. They all do. Your father wanted all boys. He was very angry that you and Evanna were girls.”
What a shitty thing to say to your daughter—even if it is the truth—on her wedding day. I might be hurt if I didn’t know that my father was an evil bastard.
“Stop talking, Torrie.” Isobel warns. “Ye’ve not said anything positive the entire day, so shut yer gob.”
“Westlyn doesn’t know how men are. I’m just telling her how her husband really feels.”
“Say another word and I’ll slap ye so hard that yer ears ring. And it won’t be church bells ye’re hearing.” Isobel isn’t kidding. She’ll do it. She’s done it before.
“Maybe she’ll renounce you too, so you don’t have to listen to her bullshit anymore,” Evanna whispers.
“I wish.” But there’s no way my mother would renounce me. I’m marrying a leader. Her new son-in-law has too much money and power for her to walk away from me.
My mother renounced Jamie for marrying Ellison. She renounced Evanna for being in love with a cleaner—a brother who cleans up the bloody mess and bodies following a kill. Mother says that Craig is the lowest of the low and beneath Evanna’s status. But Evanna has chosen him; she loves him. He has claimed her, and they are going to be married at the end of the month.
I’m proud of my sister. She’s no longer allowing Mum to control her.
Isobel places her hand on my arm. “It’s almost time. We should probably go.”
I look at my reflection one last time. Not much longer as Westlyn Breckenridge. I’ll be Mrs. Kieran Bryce Hendry the next time I look at myself in the mirror. “I’m ready.”